Colombia to Panama

Leaving Salento and the incredible Valle de Cocora was sad, but at the same time exciting, as we were finally heading somewhere for an extended period of time. While staying in Isla Baru, we were able to secure a housesitting position in Panama for two to six months, depending on the sale of the property. Seeing that we had been operating without a plan, since teaching in Colombia for a year crashed and burned, this felt like a great opportunity to remain abroad, not spend much money and figure out the next steps in our lives. We awoke this morning excited to rid ourselves of travelling with the Queen’s luggage and finally settle for a bit. We had already bought our bus tickets the day before to get us from the mountains of Salento to the airport in Pereira and had even talked to the front desk at the hostel to arrange a taxi to the bus station. All set-up and arranged to give us many hours of extra time, as nothing seems to go as planned in Colombia.

The morning reception crew at the hostel were different from whom had organized our taxi and they assured us that it was far too early to get a taxi in little old Salento. “Just walk,” we were told. With blood starting to boil, they reluctantly called a taxi service and they did have a jeep nearby. Things were now looking up again. After a successful taxi, a sketchy bus ride, which included gaseous fumes consuming the bus half the time and all manner of luggage, foods, steel rods and people stacked upon each other and then another taxi ride, we arrived at the airport. Easy flight to Bogota, connect to Panama City and then hotel for the night before starting our new chapter.

Apparently when travelling in Colombia by plane, the trick is to show up minutes before takeoff and you will be ushered right through. This was happening all around us, while we sat in a line not moving an inch for over two hours. People were opening up the rope barricades, cutting lines, going back on their decisions and for the most part, we all remained stagnant. We were no longer early and had to get to the check-in desk, so moves were made and ignorance prevailed, but the drama began. We still had the doubt of even being allowed to fly to Bogota, as our status of being in the country legally was still very much in doubt.

Our first problem arose with our usual baggage overages, but we were flying to another country, so surely the absurd 200 plus USD fee for checking an extra bag each was incorrect?? Our bags were shoved aside and partially out of view with no tags, while a gang of Avianca reps threw around different baggage fees and showed us numerous different translations through google. We were getting nowhere and then were told we had to have a return flight booked out of Panama, to even be let in. Something the Canadian’s we were about to house sit for might have mentioned. We were now in full blown panic mode, as our flight was due to take of in about 40 minutes, we had abandoned our untagged bags and were desperately trying to find WIFI in this tiny airport to book return flights. The WIFI was down of course, but I did stumble across a tienda with a computer for use and we quickly booked flights with the hope of canceling them once landing in Panama City for a full refund. Once back in line, the waiting resumed and eventually we presented the flight desk with our return flight information and they presented us with boarding passes and a 450 CAD fee for checking our extra bags….insane. In the interest of not missing our flight, we paid up and ran for the gate. At no point during the madness of our running through this airport, booking flights, sweating and stressing about missing our first flight to Bogota, did Avianca tell us that all flights were very delayed due to weather and we in fact had lots of time to consider our options and make rational decisions. This was later made worse by our names being announced over the Intercom and a message that we would be missing our 2pm flight out of Bogota, but would be able to catch the 10:30pm. Perfect, another day spent in an airport and a probable missed check-in time for our hotel in Panama. Needless to say, patience was now running thin and Avianca had very much screwed us from the moment we stepped foot in Pereira.

Once in Bogota, we hit up customer service for Avianca and started to make some progress. Their first offer to satisfy our displeasure, was lunch on them at Burger King. This made the vegetarian face of Rebecca more than tighten up…. Cooler heads would prevail and eventually we were signing a document stating that Avianca would refund the 450 CAD baggage fees and they were sending us to a hotel for the day, where we would receive a room, lunch and dinner. The hotel was a great relief and the food decent, although it was a set menu for Avianca’s reject cliental. We finally arrived in Panama City and were actually somewhere with the full knowledge of being there legally!! The hotel got us checked in during the early morning hours and we awoke just a few later, to get the next leg of travel started.

Sparing you the details of a very confusing morning, trying to get our Colombian cell phone onto a Panamanian plan, we actually got on the bus we wanted to, at the time we wanted to, for a four-hour ride to Las Tablas. Being Holy Week, Semana Santa, the traffic was insane and the four-hour ride, which at this point we could do standing on our head, turned into eight plus. Frustrating, but again, all a means to setting up shop for at least several months. We arrived in Las Tablas and the owner of the house we would be sitting for, picked us up and took us to his beachside home where we would be caring for his three dogs and cats. It felt so incredible to awake the next day, see pelicans flying overhead, the ocean from our bedroom window and knowing that we were now living on easy street, right across from the beach for months to come.